Las Vegas Votes: ‘It’s a Mess, Man’

LAS VEGAS — It seems Republicans have yet to go all in on this caucus thing.

Valley High School, one of the closest caucus sites to the Las Vegas Strip, was hopping as several hundred voters showed up to caucus. But turnout for some of the precincts meeting at the school was sparse, and many voters and organizers said they were confused by the caucus process and curious why it took so long.

Roman Waddell, who printed “Ron Paul, Baby!” on the back of his sweatshirt, declared himself caucus chairman Saturday when he was the only person who showed up on time for precinct 5356, which included a list of about 100 eligible voters, he said.

“It’s a mess, man,” said Mr. Waddell, a professional poker player who keeps his assets in hard gold and silver. “We’ve been here an hour and 17 minutes, and we still don’t know what we’re doing.”

Caucusing began around 9 a.m. as volunteers distributed large packets of voting materials with written instructions, giving the event the feeling of a standardized test sitting. Prior to 2008, Nevada conducted a presidential primary, a process that seemed more natural to Robert Cartier, a 50-year-old construction worker who wore his aviator sunglasses indoors.

“We need to go back to a primary,” said Mr. Cartier, a Paul supporter. “In and out, everybody knows what to do.”…